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People group profile · PG014924

The Digo of Tanzania

The Digo of Tanzania, numbering about 274,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are one of the nine Mijikenda peoples of the East African coast, tracing their ancestral homeland to Shungwaya before migrating south from Kenya's Kaya Kinondo into Tanzania, becoming the most Islamized Mijikenda group through centuries of coastal Arab trade.

They are an indigenous people in the Bantu, East-Coastal people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. Their primary religion is Sunni Islam, and they primarily speak Digo.

Pray for the DigoPrint profile

AI-generated illustration representing the Digo people
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph. Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Digo

Fast facts

Country
Tanzania
Population
274,000
Affinity group
Sub-Saharan African Peoples
People cluster
Bantu, East-Coastal
Primary language
Digo (dig)
Primary religion
Sunni Islam
Strategic Progress Index
Engaged yet Unreached
Evangelical
Less than 2%
GSEC
Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
Lostness priority
Frontier Unreached People Group
Region
Eastern Africa, Africa

Where they live

Gospel status

The Digo are Engaged yet Unreached, which means fewer than 2% are evangelical Christians, but there are sustained efforts to establish self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. In GSEC terms, this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years.

  • Congregations exist Yes
  • Church planting in the last two years No Churches Planted

Next steps for the Digo

  • Continue prayer and fasting for this group
  • Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
  • Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Primary religion

Sunni Islam · Islam

99% adherents

Primary language

Digo · Atlantic-Congo family

100% speak Digo

Gospel resources in Digo

  • Bible available
  • JESUS Film available
  • Radio programs not available
  • Gospel recordings available
  • Audio resources available
  • Bible stories not available

Films

Bibles

Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.

Pray for the Digo

  1. Matthew 9:37–38. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest field.
  2. 2 Timothy 2:2. Pray for faithful local leaders who will teach others, so that the church multiplies.
  3. Ephesians 5:8. Pray that those walking in darkness will turn to the light and live as children of light.
  4. Romans 10:14–15. Ask God to send messengers, so that people can hear, believe and call on the name of the Lord.

Download a prayer guide

Digo in other countries

The same people (ROP3 102607) is reported in 1 other country.

People groupCountryPopulationStatus
Digo MijikendaKenya469,000Engaged yet Unreached

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